This invention relates to a trickle type irrigation system and to fittings for use therein wherein irrigating water is caused to trickle or drip in a controlled root zone area to be irrigated at a very low rate of flow and thus to conserve irrigating water and to eliminate mass flooding of an irrigated area and the consequent damage to irrigated crops and the like.
It is becoming increasingly more important for larger and higher quality yields of crops to be achieved in order for farming to be economically productive. Moreover, there is a severe shortage of personnel available to irrigate crops and the cost of labor for irrigation is extremely high. Further, the shortage of water available for irrigation has resulted in spiralling costs of irrigation water and new methods of irrigation have become necessary. Recent developments have included low cost plastic piping materials and devices to apply irrigating water to a controlled root zone area to be irrigated at a very low flow rate in order to conserve irrigating water. Such devices have been devised for use both above ground and below ground, as exemplified by my U.S. Pat. No. 3,630,236.
The present invention provides means which significantly simplify and reduce the cost of the physical components and the cost of installation and labor of trickle type irrigation systems.
With the present invention, no tools are needed in order to connect together the fittings and pipes and the like in an irrigation system, and the connections between main lines and branch lines and drip type fittings and the like can be accomplished quickly and easily with a resultant substantial savings in labor and cost.
According to one aspect of the invention, a fitting is provided for joining branch lines to a main line and comprises a fitting having one or more tapered and externally serrated nipples for the quick and easy connection thereto of plastic branch lines, which fitting is both leakproof and secure.
According to another aspect of the invention, a piercing fitting is provided which has piercing means on one end thereof adapted to penetrate the wall of a plastic pipe or the like to quickly and securely join the fitting to the plastic pipe in a leakproof manner. The fitting also has a tapered, externally serrated surface on the other end thereof for the quick connection thereto of a plastic pipe.
Still another form of the invention includes a pair of threadably joined together body members, one of which has a piercing means on one end thereof for piercing the wall of a plastic pipe and wherein the other body member has a tapered, serrated surface thereon for the quick and easy connection thereto of a plastic pipe. A resilient compressible orifice member is clamped between the two body members and the body members have concave, tapered adjacent surfaces for engaging the orifice member to press it radially inwardly to restrict the size of the orifice therethrough.
Still another form of the invention comprises a pair of threadably engaged body members, each of which has a tapered serrated surface thereon for the quick connection thereto of a plastic pipe, and between which is clamped a resilient compressible orifice member as above, and from which an optional plain or perforated tube or the like can be extended along a row or around a tree to further distribute the water in a selected root zone area.
Still another form of the invention is a simple calibrated orifice fitting with either an open or shrouded discharge with a piercing means on one end thereof for quick and easy connection to a plastic water supply pipe.